Behavioral Interventions

Abstract

Behavior does not occur in a vacuum—there are many environmental factors and events that contribute to the occurrence of behavior. When developing an intervention to address the behavior of students, it is critical to first consider the events in close temporal proximity to the behavior of interest. In this chapter, the authors discuss antecedent-behavior-consequent relations and how to effectively modify behavior in one of three ways: manipulating antecedents to behavior, altering the consequences of a behavior, and teaching replacement or alternative forms of the behavior. Further, the chapter provides a review of principles of operant conditioning: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment. Finally, the chapter provides an overview of key instructional strategies, such as imitation training, chaining, and shaping.

Community-based care for autistic youth: community providers’ reported use of treatment practices in the United States

“…Nonetheless, working longer in the field of ASD was also associated with greater reported use of these practice sets, except for TS. This may be because teaching replacement behaviors/skills can be more difficult to implement (e.g., requiring more time, effort, and preparation) than other strategies ( 51 ), despite the effectiveness of active teaching strategies to support autistic youth. It may be that greater experience leads to an increased likelihood of utilizing many strategies, given increased familiarity of varied practices.…”